YuGiOh!:Duelist of the Stars
by Amor
Summary: The Duel Monsters World Championships are strenuous, but there's nothing exactly strange about them. Well..not until this year, at least. Mind control, Millenium Items, and secret cults all enter the picture. (Rating is for some swearing.)
1. Invitation and Declaration

[AN:Hi! This is my first Yu-Gi-Oh fic, so I hope I do well on it. This story takes place about four months after Battle City, so you can ignore everything after that. Oh, and by the way, this story is one of the about 2% of YGO fics that actually involve dueling. Just letting you know. Also, if there's anything I want to make a special note about, you'll see a number beside it and you can go down to the end of the fic for an explanation. Oh, and when a character talks like this Hello>, it means that they are thought-talking (usually to their Yami or hikari.)] 

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Yu-Gi-Oh!:Duelist of the Stars 

by Amor 

Disclaimer:I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. It does belong to various people, among them 4Kids, Upper Deck, Konami, Studio Dice, Kazuki Takahashi, and some other people. 

Chapter 1:Invitation and Declaration   
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The pharoah sat on his throne, watching over his subjects as they went to market. He liked to watch the common folk barter and talk of trivial matters. He also wanted to make sure no one stole--that would be most unfortunate for them. But all of the citizens knew what the punishment was for rule breaking--both in games and in civilization--and thus would never commit a crime. At least in the Pharoah's line of sight, anyways. 

A young attendant ran up to the pharoah's side, his face red from running a long way. "Master pharoah..." he panted. "The high priest Kiaban has challenged you to a Shadow Game." 

"Kiaban?" the pahroah said, trying not to let the surprise show on his face. "I never knew Kiaban wanted the throne. But still, I will accept his challenge. He is powerful at the games, and has never broken a rule. Where does he wish us to duel?" 

"At the temple," the attendant said, regaining his breath. "He's waiting for you." 

"Very well," the pharoah answered. He stood up, and his garrison of warriors did likewise. The pharoah really didn't think he needed them--he could defend himself, if need be--but it gave him comfort knowing that he was protected by another human body. 

They marched through the city, until they eventually left the boundaries. The pharoah could see his garrison sweating as they walked through the desert, but he himself was all right. Eventually, the temple came into view. A small building, but one of great importance. The garisson formed two lines, allowing the pharoah to walk in. 

"Kiaban!" the pharoah shouted, looking around the decorated temple, trying to find the high priest. "I was informed that you challenged me to a shadow game! Where are you?" 

"You were informed correctly," the high priest smirked, stepping out from a hidden doorway.   
"Pharoah Yami, I challenge you for the throne!" 

"I accept your challenge, High Priest Kiaban," the pharoah said, going through the ancient rites. "And if you should lose, than you shall be reduced to no more than a peasent. 

Both pharaoh and priest fell silent, concentrating on the area around them. Slowly, it began to warp in to a world of shadow. The heat of Egypt became the cool of shadow, the bright sun became nothing but darkness. And then, when they were both in the Realm of Shadows, the game began. 

"I summon the Hitosu-Me Giant!" Kiaban yelled. A stone tablet appeared, and from it sprang an ogrelike monster. The pharoah frowned. The Giant was a relatively weak opening play. Either Kiaban had some kind of trick up his sleeve, or else he was a worse shadow gamer than the pharoah thought. 

"I summon the Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress! Like before, a stone tablet formed in front of the pharoah, summoning a small blue dragon. "Attack!" The blue dragon formed a ball of fire in it's mouth and shot it at Hitosu-Me Giant. The monster was knocked back, almost crashing into it's summoner. The two monsters charged each other, in a fury of teeth and claws, but when it was over Hitosu-Me Giant's shredded essence was floating througout the Shadow Realm. Kiaban winced as his spirit took the damage. 

It was Kiaban's move again. He raised his hand, and the pharoah knew he was going to summon another monster. "Yugi, wake up." 

"What?" the pharoah asked. 

"Get up, Yugi, you're going to be late for school." 

Yugi's eyes snapped open, seeing the blurry image of his grandfather waking him up. That's right, he thought. I'm Yugi. Not the pharoah. Yugi. 

Rubbing his eyes, the short teenager threw his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up wobbily. His grandfather left the room, allowing Yugi to get dressed. Yugi felt Yami's mental presence stir. 

I had another dream,> Yugi said mentally. 

I know,> Yami simply replied. 

Kaiba was in it too,> Yugi said. His name was Kiaban, but I knew it was Kaiba. 

Yugi,> Yami began, sounding mildly irritated. I know what happens in your dreams. I have the same ones.> 

Yeah, I know,> Yugi said in his mind. He sighed. I'm just not sure how separate we are. To tell the truth, it's kind of creepy, having another spirit in my body. 

They were both silent for a while. Yugi was mostly dressed before Yami though-spoke again. The duel...it seemed familiar.> 

Yugi nodded. I remember it now. It was our first duel with Kaiba. At least how it began.> 

Cutting off the conversation, Yugi exited his room and walked over into the kitchen. As he poured himself some cereal, he wondered about his dreams. Recently he'd been having various dreams where he was the pharaoh. He supposed that they were memories from Yami's past life. There seemed to be many parallels between his life and Yami's--the Kaiba/Kiaban duel being the latest--but at the same time many differences. 

After finishing his cereal, Yugi grabbed his deck and carefully placed it in his pocket. His deck was basically the same as the one he had used in Battle City, plus or minus a few cards. He now had all three Egyptian God cards--and had become a target because of it. It seemed that not a day went by without someone trying to steal those three cards. It really was quite a nuisance. 

"Yugi," his grandfather's hoarse voice said from the game store portion of the building. "You've got some mail." 

Yugi walked downstairs, wondering who could be writing him. The first was a plain, business-sized envelope. The other was smaller, and looked like it contained a more personal letter. Yugi opened the first letter and read it. 

Mr. Moto, 

You are hearby invited to the Duel Monsters World Championships. You are qualified by both your 1rst-place finish in Duelist Kingdom and your 1rst-place finish in Battle City. The World Championships are a very prestigous tournament, and we congratulate you on qualifying.   
With this in mind, here are the rules for the tournament.   
-You must have a deck of no more than forty (40) cards   
-All Duel Monsters cards are legal, but you may have no more than three(3) of one card per deck.   
-Each duelist shall begin each match with four thousand (4000) life points.   
-Monsters of Level 5 or higher require at least one sacraficed monster to summon. Level 5-6 monsters require one (1) sacrafice. Level 7-8 monsters require two (2) sacrafices. Level 9+ monsters (God Cards) require three (3) sacrafices.   
-The player with the lowest current standings goes first.   
-In Double Duels, turn order goes 1A-2A-1B-2B, where numbers represent teams and letters represent duelists.   
-In Double Duels, no player can attack on their first turn.   
-If any individual player loses three times or more, they are disqualified.   
-If any team loses twice or more, they are disqualified   
Here is the schedule for the World Championships:   
Day 1:Duelists arrive at tournament sight.   
Day 2:Tournament rounds determine national team(this does not count towards your losses)   
Day 3:Three Swiss(1) rounds of individual dueling   
Day 4:Four Swiss rounds of team dueling   
Day 5:Three Swiss rounds of individual dueling   
Day 6:Team finals between the top four national teams.   
Day 7:Individual finals between the top eight individual duelists.   
This tournament is generously sponsored by Demon Dice International. This Saturday, please be at the nearest Demon Dice store by 2:00 p.m., where you will be transfered to the tournament location. You may bring one companion.   
Thank you in advance for coming to our tournament. Great duelists like you have made the World Championships a success for the past three years, and we hope you'll repeat the favour. 

Sincerely, 

James Highlond Jr.   
CEO of Demon Dice International 

Yugi took a moment to let the letter's message sink in. World Championships. It sounded like a good tournament. He normally didn't go to regional tournaments or anything like that, but this was different. He just had this feeling that he should be there. I'll go, he decided quickly. 

He recognized the name Demon Dice. It was the company that was responsible for bringing Duel Monsters to the U. S. and other companies. It was also the company that made Dungeon Dice Monsters, among other games. Yugi knew that the nearest store was Duke Devlin's. In previous years, he knew that Industrial Illusions had sponsored the tournament, but since Duelist Kingdom Industrial Illusions had fallen strangely quiet. 

Then, just a few months ago, Demon Dice bought out Industrial Illusions, giving them full control of the game. It was a good thing too--with no new cards coming out, the enviornment was getting fairly stagnant. Demon Dice had immediately released a new set, and was planning to release another one next month. 

Setting the invitation aside, Yugi opened the next letter. 

Dear Yugi, 

You may or may not already know this, but you have qualified for the World Championships. I hope you will attend--it would be bad publicity for a duelist of your calibur not to.   
But I have more important issues to write about. You have all three Egyptian God cards. Any one of these cards holds a great amount of power. You know you are unstoppable with them. It seems to me that perhaps one duelist holding all the cards unbalances the tournament.   
Just to make it fair, I suggest you do not use all of the Egyptian God cards. In fact, I humbly suggest that you donate your Obelisk the Tormentor to myself, who was given it by Ishizu herself.   
Please consider what I have to say. I shall see you at the World Championships. 

Sincerely,   
Seto Kaiba   
Head of Kaiba Corp. 

Interesting, Yugi thought. It was true--with all three Egyptian God cards, he was practically invincible. After all, he had been on a winning streak even with no God cards. Maybe Seto was right. It would even the playing field a bit. Besides, it wasn't as if this tournament was like Battle City--there wasn't anything riding on it but a title. 

"Yugi, you're going to be late for school!" Yugi's grandfather shouted. The shorter boy blinked. He had been so caught up in his mail, he had forgotten the time. Quickly throwing on his backpack, he rushed out the door. 

* * * 

Yugi couldn't concentrate in school that day. He was too busy thinking about the upcoming tournament, about what Kaiba had said, about his dream, about just about everything but Math. Unfortunately, they had a test that day. Yugi had only answered half the questions, he was so deep in thought. 

"Yugi?" a polite voice said, snapping the duelist back to reality. "It's your turn." Yugi sighed as he drew his card. It had turned out that both Joey and Bakura were also invited to the tournament. Bakura, however, was being fully controlled by the Millenium Ring during Battle City, and thus wasn't as great a duelist as one might expect. So Yugi was playing with him to help him learn. It was lunchtime, and they were eating after quickly inhaling their lunch. 

He was still playing with the deck his other self had assembled though. Currently he had just played out Dark Necrophia, his strongest monster, and destroyed Yugi's Giant Rat with it. Yugi had been able to search out a Magnet Warrior Gamma and put it on the field thanks to Giant Rat's effect. Now he had the Magnet Warriors Beta and Gamma out on the field, as well as a face-down card. Bakura had Destiny Board out, but only the first letter. 

Yugi looked at the card he had drew. It was the Winged Dragon of Ra. Even if he only had two monsters out on the field, he knew he could summon it this turn. Something seemed wrong about winning so easily. I wonder if I could even beat Bakura without an Egyptian God card. I would've been toast if I hadn't drawn Slypher in Battle City. It would be disheartening for Bakura to be beaten so easily. 

Do it, Yugi> Yami said suddenly. Yami was also letting Yugi duel for himself, but still monitoring his playing. No one will be going easy on him in the World Championships.> 

"All right," Yugi said boldly. A crowd had began to gather to watch them play, as most people in the town of Domino now knew of the "great duelist Yugi." "I'll activate my Trap card Ultimate offering." Yugi flipped over the card. "Then I'll summon Neo the Magic Swordsman, in attack mode!" Yugi played the 1700 power monster on the desk. "Then I'll pay 500 life points to use Ultimate Offering's abilities to give me another summon this turn!" Tea, who had volunteered to keep track of their life points, crossed off the number 3200 and replaced it with 2700--Yugi's Life Points "And now I'll summon the mighty Winged Dragon of Ra!" The gathered crowd gasped as Yugi placed all three of his monsters in the discard pile to summon the Egyptian God card. 

"Hey!" one of the kids asked. "Why does it have question marks in it's power and touhgness boxes. What's that mean?" 

"What it means," Yugi said dramatically, "Is that my monster has the combined attack and defense strength of the three monsters I sacraficed." Yugi realized that he was enjoying the attention. That wasn't like him. 

"That means..." Tea said, doing some quick math. "It has an attack strength of 4900 and a defense strength of 4400!" 

"That's right," Yugi said. He could have done the math himself, but he didn't want to boast. "Now, I'll attack Bakura's Dark Necrophia." 

Bakura sighed as he tossed Dark Necrophia into the discard pile. "That brings my life points down to zero. You win, Yugi." Seeing the lost look on Bakura's face, Yugi wasn't sure it was worth it. 

Yugi didn't like it either. He had only won because he had drawn Ra--not because he was a better duelist. Well, you were a great duelist to win Ra from Malik... His mind feebly argued, but it didn't comfort Yugi. Maybe someone like Mai would have enjoyed that victory. But not him. He liked duels where he won by the skin of his teeth. Not like this one, where he had mercilessly steamrollered over his friend. 

* * * 

Later on in the day, Yugi was walking home from school with Joey, Tea and Tristan. Bakura lived in the opposite direction, so he wasn't with them. The four of them were talking and joking--normal stuff that teenagers did. They had reached a lull in the conversation. The air seemed strangely quiet. 

"So," Joey said, breaking the silence. "I figure Yugi's pretty much got this tournament in the bag. Am I right, guys?" 

"What makes you say that?" Yugi asked. 

"Well, I mean, look at you," Joey said., as if it were something anyone would know. "You've got all three Egyptian God cards, and you were King of Games even before that. I mean, just look at what you did this afternoon. Forty-seven thousand attack points..." 

"Do you want it?" Yugi said abruptly. 

"What?" Joey said stupidly. "Are you feeling all right, Yug?" 

"I'm serious, Joey," Yugi said. "I mean, I want to give everyone a fighting chance at the tournament." 

"Okay, whatever you say," Joey replied, growing a smirk. "I might as well take advantage of your momentary delerium." 

Yugi fanned through his deck and picked out Ra. "Here you go," he said, handing it to Joey. "It's all yours." 

"Hey, did he just give that guy Ra?" someone behind the group said. 

"Can I have Obelisk?" another boy asked. 

"Okay," came another voice, a girl's. "But I want Slypher!" 

"Okay," Tristan said. "Now's the part where we run madly away from the Egyptian God card-hungry mob." 

* * * 

They got away quite easily, actually--they were just kids, and not that many of them. The problem was, Yugi couldn't get his mind off of the tournament. All he did during the next two days was related to Duel Monsters. He read strategy articles on magazines and webpages, went through his deck and made minor edits about ten times, and read up on the other competitors. The only piece of homework he did was a free essay for Japanese that he chose to write about Duel Monsters. 

The days passed by in a blur, and before he knew it, it was Friday night. He was still reading up about the competition--right now it looked like his biggest competition was, as always, Seto Kaiba. But still, he looked up most of the other world champions and comitted them to memory. He was sure that he was saying stuff like "Angela Sienna, Italian National Champion, known for playing decks that revolve around Exodia..." in his sleep. 

His grandfather had forced him to go to bed early that night, saying that he needed rest. Still, he stayed awake for a couple of hours, filled with anxiety, until he fell into a troubled sleep. 

...he was dueling Tea...they were on Kaiba's blimp...but Dimitri Bellvoir was going to blow it up, but who exactly was Dimitri Bellvoir...Dimitri Bellvoir, French national champion, uses Fusion deck...but then his grandfather told him that it was a double duel, and Seto Kaiba had just played Ra... 

...the blade pierced through the pharoah's back, sending pain through his body. Instantly, the pharoah spun around, but he couldn't see the assassin. But Pegus had seen it, and pointed out a figure hiding in the shadows. The pharoah's lips snarled. He hated assassins. He could feel the poison seeping through his bones. He cried out, and banished the assassin to the shadow realm, but he was still poisoned. As he faded away to blackness, he held out a hand and reached for something...anything...and then the blackness... 

* * * 

Yugi woke up the next morning and slowly got dressed. After putting his deck in his pocket, he went downstairs and ate a large breakfast. He wasn't sure what kind of food they had at the tournament (they had to have food somewhere, if they were supposed to be staying here for a week), so he was eating up now. He also grabbed some candy bars and stuffed them into his bag. 

At around elven o' clock, he headed over to Tristan's place. They had all agreed to meet there, as it was closest to the Demon Dice store. After bidding farewell to his grandfather, he walked down the street at a moderate pace. He took this opportunity to talk to Yami. 

Yami,> he asked cautiously. Since the fate of the world isn't hinging on this tourney or anything...would you mind letting me duel? You know, instead of you?> 

I suppose,> Yami responded, sounding a bit surprised. But why would you want such a thing?> 

It's just that...> Yugi sighed audibly. I just want to be able to duel on my own, without relying on someone else's help.> 

Even if he was nothing more than a spirit, Yugi could feel Yami nodding. A wise decision. But I wouldn't be so certain about this being a regular tournament. Trouble seems to follow us.> 

Yugi nodded in agreement to that, but was sceptical. However, there was no more time to talk because Tristan's house had just come into view. Yugi sprinted up to the doorstep and rang the bell. To his surprise, Joey's sister Serenity opened the door. "Oh, hi Yugi," she said energetically. 

"Hi," Yugi responded confidently, but a sudden flare of tournament nervousness filled him. Shaking it off, he went inside. Joey and Tristan were sitting on the couch, watching TV. A forgotten duel lay on the table. 

"Hey Yug," Joey greated him nonchalantly as Serenity sat down on the couch. Yugi realized that she must be coming to the tournament with Joey. As he sat down, he glanced at the forsaken game on the tabletop. One of the players--presumably Joey--had a Red Eyes Black Dragon out, and the other player only had a Science Soldier to defend. 

Seeing Yugi's eyes wander to the cards, Tristan quickly scooped up his deck. "Oh, hey Yugi," Tristan said. "Me and Joey were dueling, but we decided we'd rather watch TV instead." 

"You mean you'd rather watch TV than get clobbered by my Red Eyes Black Dragon," Joey teased. 

"If you want to duel, Joey, I'll play you," Yugi said. 

"Okay," the taller boy said as he began to shuffle his deck. "But I warn you Yugi...I'm not gonna be easy!" 

The two duelled a couple times. Yugi won most of the time, but once Joey got Ra out and completely decimated Yugi's defending forces. Soon enough, though, Tea and Bakura had arrived, and it was almost 2:00. So they headed over to the Demon Dice store. There were a few customers, but none of them looked like true duelists. 

"Looks like you guys are the first finalists here," Tristan said. 

"I wouldn't count on it," a familiar voice said cockily. Duke Devlin stepped out from the shadows, tossing a pair of dice in the air and catching them in his fist repeatedly. 

"Duke?" Yugi asked, surprised. "You're in the tournament?" 

"God, Yugi, don't you research the competition?" Duke said as he swaggered towards the group. Yugi felt a flash of colour come to his face; he had done a lot of research on the competition. "I'm currently ranked #3 in regional duelist tournaments, so I was invited. Admittedly, I'm not as good at Duel Monsters as I am at Dungeon Dice Monsters, but I have some skill." He said that last line with a smirk, as if being a good enough duelist to get invited to the world championships was nothing to write home about. 

"Oh, get off your high horse Duke," a familiar female voice said. Sure enough, Mai Valentine stepped through the game store's automatic doors next. "You know you only qualified because half of the Battle City finalists couldn't." 

"Yeah, that's what I was wondering about," Yugi said. "According to the tournament website, only the top 8 of the last major tournament in the region qualified. That would have been Battle City. So how are you in there, Duke?" 

"That's easy," Duke said dismissively. "Seto Kaiba is currently registered in the American region, and Ishizu Ishtar in the Egyptian. Not to mention that Marik and Odion have just about fallen off of the face of the earth since they were defeated in the finals. So, they took the top four regional champions, one of which happened to be me." 

"But who are the others?" Bakura asked curiously. 

"That would be me," a nasal voice said as the store's swinging doors opened again. Yugi groaned inaudibly as he faced Weevil Underwood, accompanied by Rex Raptor. "And Rex here, but I'm better than him." 

"No you're not!" Rex protested. "You just keep playing dirty." 

"Well of course you'd consider it that way, Rex," Weevil remarked. "Your only strategy is to smash the opponent's face in with your Dinosaur cards." 

"I've learned from you Weevil," Rex bit back. "I bet my new monster could wipe the floor with you!" 

"Oh, what is it," Weevil said sarcastically. "Another Serpent Knight Dragon? Really, my Insect Queen could kill that monster without even absorbing any insects..." 

"You mean my Insect Queen, Weevil," Joey interrupted. After rummaging through his pockets for a minute, he flashed the rare card he had won from the insect duelist. "And I beat you at Duelist Kingdom too, Rex. And won your rarest card as well." Joey was now showing off his Red Eyes Black Dragon too. "I must say, thanks though. I never could have got through Duelist King-" 

Joey was interrupted by Rex's shoulder slamming into his side. The sudden attack caused him to drop the two cards he was holding. Weevil immeditely responded by scrambling to pick up the fallen cards. Joey responded to Rex's attack with a rough shove, and it looked like the two would continue fighting. The crowd that had already began to watch the argument was now forming a ring around the duelists. 

Serenity and Tea burst through the crowds, each restraining one of the boys. "Let me go," Rex snapped at Tea, who was all that was holding him back from going at Wheeler with flying fists. For some inexplicableb reason, Yugi felt a pang of something like jealousy. 

"Come on, big bro," Serenity urged. "It's not worth it!" 

"As much as I would like this debacle to continue," Duke said, his voice rising above the crowd. "The plane has arrived." 

Plane? Yugi wondered, but his thoughts were put aside when Duke began ushering them towards the elevator. The ground floor was the real store, the other floors were used for offices and dueling arenas. After a long and slightly cramped ride up, there was a metallic ding! and the door opened. They were on the roof. Outside was a moderately small plane. An official-looking man stood outside the plane's open entrance. 

After a moment of uncertain silence, the man barked "You may now board. Please state your name and reason for being here as you do so." 

Yugi was the first to step up. "Yugi Moto, first place in Battle City, first place in Duelist Kingdom." 

Tea followed him. "Tea Gardener, in the company of Yugi Moto." 

Joey followed. "Joey Wheeler, fourth place in Battle City, second place in Duelist Kingdom." 

Following him was Serenity. "Serenity Wheeler, in the company of Joey Wheeler." 

Bakura came next, his nervous demeanor showing on his face. "Bakura Ryou, fifth place in Battle City." 

Tristan suddenly realized he should be following Bakura, and jumped up to do so. "Tristan Taylor, in the company of Bakura Ryou." 

Mai snorted, and stepped up. "Mai Valentine, sixth place in Battle City, third place in Duelist Kingdom." 

Weevil impatiently followed. "Weevil Underwood, first place in regional tournaments." 

Immediately following him was Rex. "Rex Raptor, second place in regional tournaments." 

Duke Devlin stepped up too, casually tossing dice in the air. "Duke Devlin, third place in regional tournaments. But you probably all ready know me, right?" 

The inside of the plane was rather small, to Yugi's surprise. He sat next to Joey and Tea. There was a period of silence as they waited for the eighth duelist. Finally, after about ten minutes, someone came bursting in. "Sorry I'm late, I just got into the city half an hour ago. Mako Tsunami, fourth place in regional tournaments." 

"Hey Mako!" Yugi waved as the sea duelist entered the plane. While they had only met once, and thus could hardly be called friends, they both respected each other as duelists and as opponents. Mako took an unclaimed corner of the seats. 

After about five more minutes, a crackly voice came over the radio. "Attention all finalists and companions. We will soon be lifting off. We urge that all passeners wear their seatbelts." Then, the plane took off. Yugi's stomach jumped. He had never liked planes--or helicopters, for that matter. Kaiba's fascination with them was one of the many things that made Yugi dislike him. 

All of a sudden, something threw Yugi back into his seat (he had been leaning forward.) It felt as if a hurricane was blowing him back. He gritted his teeth, sure that his skin would tear off. And then, it stopped. 

"What was that?" Yugi moaned, clutching his stomach. 

Tea glanced out the window and gasped. "Yugi...we're in space!"   
  


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(1) For those who don't know, Swiss is a tournament structure that sorts out the players into skill levels. Basically, the first round is usually organized randomly, or by alphabetical order, or whatever. Then, after that, the winners of that round play the other winners, and the losers play the other losers. This continues, eventually making sure that a player's skill level is matched. This is the structure that is used for most tournaments of chess, Magic:the Gathering, and I'm sure lots of other games. 


	2. The Tournament Begins

[AN:Hi again. Here's the second chapter of Duelist of the Stars, containing the first dull-fledged duel. Also, I'm assuming that Yu-Gi-Oh! is set sometime in the near future because, y'know, of all the hologram projectors. That's why they have space-capable planes available for a card tournament. Note:In this chapter's duel, I use some original cards. These are marked with asterisks (*), and their full stats will be listed at the bottom of the chapter. And now, without further ado, is...] 

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Yu-Gi-Oh!:Duelist of the Stars 

by Amor 

Disclaimer:If you think I own Yu-Gi-Oh!...well, you're just plain wrong. 

Chapter 2:The Tournament Begins   
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"No way!" Yugi said as he glanced out the window. But sure enough, they were flying through the starry void of space. 

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Duke said mockingly. "The tournament is held on a space station. Demon Dice figured it was the only way to make sure one country wasn't favoured, by having home turf." 

"Thanks for telling us sooner," Tristan said, irritated. 

"You never asked," Duke smirked. 

Their arguement might have continued, but the captain's crackling voice came over the speaker system once more. "Attention all passengers. We will soon be docking. Please do not undo your seatbelts until the vehicle has come to a full stop." 

Sure enough, a silvery sphere quickly appeared in their view. Weevil whistled. "That's big. They built that just for the tournament?" 

"Nah," Duke Devlin said, happy to know more about the tournament than anyone else on the plane. "They renovated it. Scientists live there most of the time, but Demon Dice paid NASA to let them use it for the World Championships." 

The plane quickly docked inside what looked to be a hangar, and the steps extended downwards. Yugi cautiously stepped off, expecting to float up into the air, but found that gravity was working perfectly normally. 

"Hey!" Joey said, noticing this. "Are you sure we're in space. There's still gravity." 

"Artificial gravity boosters," Duke yawned, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world "Only the best technology for the world's best duelists." He glanced askance at Tristan. "And their cheerleaders." 

"Hey!" Tristan yelled, rushing at Duke. Serenity barely managed to restrain him. 

"Why do I have the feeling we're going to spend the whole tournament keeping boys from knocking the daylights out of each other," Tea said to Serenity. The younger Wheeler giggled in response. 

"Attention!" a lofty male voice said over the loud speaker. "Would all duelists please clear the hangars." The eight finalists and their companions quickly headed towards a glass door marked "Hangar Exit." The pilot followed them. 

There was a roar as the hangar door opened and another space-plane flew in, about the same size as theirs. It landed softly beside the one Yugi had taken. The hangar door slammed shut. As the duelists began to walk down their plane's stairs, Yugi realized that this was the plane for the American championships. There was Rebecca, Bandit Keith... 

And Seto Kaiba. Both duelists locked eyes with one another momentairly. Their look seemed to say. May the best man win. Oh, and I hope you crash and burn in the first round. 

* * * 

"Wow!" Joey said as he flicked through the TV channels. "We get, like, every channel in existance! Ooh, here's a Mexican game show!" After arriving, the duelists had been given their rooms. Yugi and Joey had decided to share a room. The station room was pretty basic, with two single beds, a TV set, and a small bathroom. Joey was channel surfing, and Yugi was thumbing through his deck for what had to be the millionth time. 

"Oh yeah," he muttered as he came across a certain God card. "I forgot to give Kaiba his Obelisk back." 

"Say what?" Joey asked incredulously. "You're going to give that guy back his god card? What are you, nuts? You won it fair and square." 

"I didn't see you complaining when I gave you Ra," Yugi said with a smirk. 

"Well, um, yeah, but..." Joey seemed dumbfounded at this, so Yugi enjoyed a moment of silence that was only broken by the dull sound of the TV (Joey couldn't understand the words, so he had turned the sound down low.) Yugi could understand them (it was much less funny because of this.) For some reason, his Millenium Puzzle let him perfectly understand languages he barely even knew the names of. Just another mystery of the Millenium Items. 

Joey changed the channels again, switching to a British comedy. After a couple of jokes, Joey grunted in aggrivation. "I don't get it." 

"Joey, you're barely passing English class(1), I don't expect you to," Yugi said casually. Once again, he could understand it, but didn't find it all that humorous. Yami seemed to, however He lay back on his bed, setting his cards in a pile on the nightstand. Joey had changed the channels once again, to some animé about giant robots. 

Forgetting for once about duelling, Yugi decided that watching something mindless wouldn't be too bad for a change. I need all the rest I can for tomorrow. But the explosions of the animé on the TV soon lulled Yugi into a deep and dreamless sleep. 

* * * 

The holder of the Millenium Rod grasped his item closely. The last time he had tried to use the item, it had nearly killed him. Already, he was sweating with a mix of anticipation, fear, and the thrill of power. But it would be worth it. Once he mastered the item, he would be unstoppable. 

He glanced over at his roommate, deep in sleep. _ Rest easy._ He couldn't imagine what the other would say if he awoke now. Awoke and saw him, of all people, wielding a Millenium Item. But that wouldn't happen. 

The holder of the Millenium Rod silently began to use the item. First slowly, edging just a bit of his mental power into the Rod. But it was like a hunger, as if there was suddenly an empty void that needed filling. Slowly but steadily, he began feeding the Rod more power...more power...the hotel room swam around him, all but disappearing. It didn't matter, nothing mattered but the Rod. There was only the Rod. 

He was the Millenium Rod, and the Millenium Rod was him. In the dark unity he had achieved power. And he reached out with his power, striking whatever unfortunate soul was nearest. And then, he had control. He hadn't left his own body, but he was in his host's--it was a strange, but somehow exhilarating feeling. 

He tried to see where his victim was, but the images from the host's eyes--a female, it was a girl--mixed with images from his own, and it all was blurred into a mass of colour. He couldn't sense anything. But he was still in control. Right? Move forward. He could feel the host body do so. A sense of exhilaration filled him. He was in total control. Move forward. And she moved forward again, like a puppet on a string! Move forward! 

And then all of a sudden something cold ran through his very essence. It felt as though a part of him had been ripped off of his body. Drenched in cold sweat, he quivered on the floor of the room. He opened his eyes. The image was blurry, but it quickly reformed into the hotel room. He was no longer seeing through another's eyes. 

He knew what happened. The girl had died. The thought turned him to ice. The chill he had just felt...it was death. He had killed someone. It made him sick to his stomache, the idea. Not even an enemy, just whoever was in my way. 

Fearfully, he shoved the Millenium Rod under his bed. Lying on the floor and breathing heavily, he felt disgusted with himself. _I should stop. What if next time I possess someone close to me? And then kill them?_ And then, there was a different voice inside of him: _You must master the item. It has great power. Remember all the power Marik had?_

Wishing he had never even heard of Millenium Items, Ancient Egypt, or any of that stuff, the holder of the Millenium Rod crawled into bed and tried to fall asleep. 

* * * 

A sharp buzzer awoke Yugi from his slumber. He blinked and moaned at having to get up so early. It was still dark outside. Well, of course,> Yami said in his mind. It's always dark in space.> 

"Oh yeah..." Yugi groaned. He had forgotten where he was for a minute there. He glanced up at the clock on the wall. 7:00. Yugi wasn't normally that late a sleeper, but he still thought it was inhumane to forcibly wake everyone up at seven. Glancing over at Joey, who had slept right through it, he silently added well, maybe not everyone. 

He was about to see if there was anything on TV, when he noticed something lying on the nightstand. It was the size of a Duel Monsters card, but plain white except for a bit of text on it. Yugi took it and read it. It was obviously a message, in some kind of fancy font. 

Yugi:   
Meet me in Arena 270 by 8:00   
Ishizu 

Yugi blinked, confused. Ishizu wanted to meet him? That sort of made sense, he supposed--he had a Millenium Item, after all. But the last time Ishizu had wanted to talk to him was during Battle City. Yugi had been telling himself all along that this tournament wouldn't be like that, that this was just a simple championships. 

All three God cards are here--in this room, actually> Yami said, as if he had a slight smirk on his face. Probably most of the Millenium Items are on this space station as well.> 

Really?> Yugi asked his counterpart. I mean, we know about my Puzzle, and Ishizu's Necklace, but I don't think that any of the others are here.> 

Remember Yugi,> Yami thought. We still don't know where the Millenium Ring or Millenium Rod are.> 

So you think they're on this ship?> Yugi asked his counterpart. 

They might be,> Yami replied warily. 

You're just paranoid,> Yugi thought back, trying to crack a smile. But somehow he thought that maybe Yami's fears weren't so ungrounded after all. 

* * * 

Tea Gardener tried to keep herself from cursing as she ran down the halls of the space station. First she had a bad hair day, then she realized that she hadn't brought any changes of clothes and was forced to wear the same ones as yesterday, and then she had gotten lost in the halls of the space station. 

She glanced momentairly at the card she had found on the night stand this morning. Why Ishizu wanted to see her specifically, she had no idea. Weren't Yugi and, to a lesser extent, Kaiba supposed to be involved in those things. _Arena 270._ She hoped Ishizu didn't want to duel. Tea had only played one tournament duel in her life, and she should have rightfully lost that. 

She started counting the doors that presumably lead to various arenas. _Arena 262...264...266...268...270!_ Taking a deep breath, she mustered up the courage to pull the red door open. 

Inside the room was a large dueling arena, much like the ones that were used during the Duelist Kingdom tournament. The walls were plain steel, and the chamber was about the size of the one in which the Duelist Kingdom finals were held. A large viewscreen stood on one end of the arena. Standing in a silent circle on the other side of the room were Ishizu, Yugi, Kaiba and Bakura. 

Ishizu broke the silence. "Good. You're here." 

"Tea?" Bakura asked incredulously. "What are you doing here?" 

"I don't know," Tea admitted as she joined the circle. "Ishizu, what am I doing here?" she asked the Egyptian woman wryly. 

"I have gathered you all here today because you are all linked by a common destiny," Ishizu began. Everyone had their attention focused on her , they knew that this was important. "I saw this destiny in some of you"-she gestured to Yugi and Kaiba- "before, although I may not have realized it's full signifigance. But now I believe I have seen what binds you, along with me and two others who aren't with us today, together and apart. We are all destined to carry one of the Millenium Items." 

Tea gasped. "Me...with a Millenium Item? But how? And which one?" 

Kaiba snorted derisively. "Don't believe this phoney. If I'm destined to carry one of these so-called Millenium Items, then why don't I have it already? Answer me that Ishizu." 

"I cannot say when and how you will get your items," Ishizu said. "Nor what they will be, although I believe it is fairly safe to say that Yugi is destined to carry his Millenium Puzzle. I tell you this only to warn you, so that you will know when the time is right." 

"That's bullshit!" Kaiba cursed. "I don't know why I even bother to listen to this Millenium Item mumbo-jumbo. I have more important business to attend to." Seto began to storm out of the room, but stopped and wheeled around halfway through. "One more thing. Moto, please give me back Obelisk." 

"Of course," Yugi responded, handing the God card to his rival. With this, Seto Kaiba left the room. 

"You may go," Ishizu said, following Kaiba. "Remember what I have said." Tea was too confused to think. _I'm destined to carry a Millenium Item? Yugi gave Kaiba one of his God card?_ None of this makes sense. But then again, when did anything about these Milleniym Items ever make sense anyways. 

* * * 

After a breakfast provided by the tournament, Day 2 of the World Championships were under way. This day would be devoted to figuring out who would make up the National Teams. Dueling Arena 212 was reserved for the Japanese team, and by 10:00 all eight duelists had arrived. Yugi, Joey, Mai, Bakura, Weevil, Rex, Duke and Mako all prepared themselves for the beginning of the Championships. Even though losses here didn't count against your individual record, getting onto the national team was definitely a good sign. Tea, Tristan and Serenity sat on the sidelines. 

The computer screen lit up, and began showing photos of each duelist. Red frames began to flash around them randomly, and it became apparent that they were randomly selecting which two players would face off first. The frames slowed down, and settled on two photographs: Joey Wheeler and Rex Raptor. 

Both duelists climbed into their side of the arena and shuffled their decks. The room was full of tension. This was it. The beginning of the World Championships. 

"So Rex," Joey said, trying to cut through the tension with banter. "Looks like it's me and you again." 

"Don't be cocky Wheeler," Rex responded as he drew his hand. He obviously saw something he liked, because the dinosaur duelist grinned smugly. "I have a few tricks up my sleeve." 

"You know Rex," Joey said as he evaluated his opening hand. "I'm really wondering if you have any good cards left. I mean, you lost your Red Eyes Black Dragon to me at Duelist Kingdom, and you lost your Serpent Night Dragon to Esper Roba in Battle City. What have you got left to lose, really?" 

"Be quiet!" Rex snapped as their life point counters went up to 4000. Joey grinned, feeling strangely satisfied with agitating his opponent. "Since I'm lower in standings than you, I get to go first. And I'll play Uraby, in attack mode!" A lifelike hologram of the smal black dinosaur appeared on Rex's side of the field. Joey looked at the monster's stats. 1500 attack, 800 defense. Not horrible, but nothing remarkable either. 

Unfortunately, Joey didn't have the best of hands, and he didn't have anything that could beat Rex's monster right away. "All right," Joey said. "I'll summon Alligator Sword in attack mode, and play this face down card!" With 1500 attack points, both monsters were evenly matched. "Your turn Rex." 

"Excellent!" Rex said with a grin as he drew another card. "I'll play one monster in face-down defense mode, and play a face-down card." Joey was taken aback by this. Rex was usually a very agressive duelist. This latest move didn't suit him. _Maybe he has learned to play better._

Joey peeled a card off the top of his deck, and celebrated inwardly. This was exactly what he needed! "I'll play Swordsman of Landstar in attack mode!" Joey announced, playing the 500/1200 Warrior on the field. 

Rex laughed. "What are you going to do with that weakling." 

"I'll show you!" Joey answered. "I'll use my face down card, Shield and Sword, to trade all monsters' attack and defense strengths." All four monsters on the field seemed to distort a bit as the Magic card took affect. Now Uraby only had an attack of 800, and both of Joey's monsters had 1200 attack points. "Now, Alligator Sword! Attack his Uraby!" 

Rex smiled as if Joey had done something funny. "I'll reveal my face-down monster, Skulking Serpent*!" The card turned over, revealing a long black serpent. Joey checked the stats of Rex's monster. Attack strength 500, defense strength 500. But Joey was sure that Rex had some sort of plan, and so refrained from commenting on his monster's weakness. "And whenever a monster attacks one of my monsters, Skulking Serpent attacks back!" The serpent snapped out, biting Joey's Alligator Sword on the leg before quickly retreating to it's area. 

"Was that supposed to do anything?" Joey taunted. 

"Yes!" Rex snapped back. "Even though my Serpent isn't strong, it has a poisonous bite that reduces a monster's attack power by 500 points!" Joey gasped as Alligator Sword's attack points went down to 700. His monster ran up to Rex's Uraby and slashed at it, but the sword bounced off of the dinosaur's hide. In return, the monster tore into Joey's Alligator Sword, destroying it. Joey's life points were reduced to 3900. 

Joey frowned. This was not how he had planned. But he could still make some progress. "All right then...Swordsman of Landostar! Attack his Skulking Serpent!" The Serpent whipped out with his bite, reducing the Swordsman's attack to 700. But that was still enough to tear through the Serpent. 

"Wait!" Rex snarled. "I activate my Continuous Trap card! Necromatic Spirit*!" The face-down card flipped up, revealing an image of a haunting spirit. The same spirit leaped out of the card and into Rex's Skulking Serpent. Joey was momentairly worried, but that dissipated when Swordsman of Landstar cut the Serpent in half. 

"Looks like your trap card wasn't enough to save your monster," Joey said. "Your turn." 

"If only you knew..." Rex muttered as he drew his card. "And now that it's my turn, our monsters revert to their normal powers. Which means that Swordsman of Landstar only has 500 attack points, and my Uraby has 1500! Now, Uraby! Attack!" The black-scaled dinosaur rushed forward, tearing through Joey's swordsman. Joey winced as his life points went down to 2900. He was beginning to lose. "And now it's time I show you the effect of my Necromatic Spirit!" Rex declared. "Whenever a monster goes to the cemetary, the monster infused with the Spirit returns to play! Which means that my serpent comes back!" Sure enough, Rex's serpent reappeared on the field, still in Defense mode. "It's your turn...see if you can do anything, Wheeler!" 

Joey paused. To get rid of his Uraby now, I'd have to use a monster with over 2000 attack points...and to play one of those I'd have to sacrafice a monster of my own. "All right," he said, resigned as he drew a card. "Hey...this might work! I'll play Gearfried, The Iron Knight, in attack mode!" he shouted. The monster's 1800 attack was displayed briefly. "And I'll attack with him!" 

"Are you an idiot or what!" Rex cackled. "Skulking Serpent, Poison Bite!" The serpent snapped forward, but his teeth bounced off Gearfried's armour. The knight stepped forward and slashed Uraby in half, cutting Rex's life points down to 3700. 

"My Iron knight is immune to poisons like your Serpent's" (2) Joey explained mockingly. "Now it's your turn, Raptor. See if you can do anything." 

"Oh, I can!" Rex gloated as he drew his card. "I'll play my Two-Headed King Rex in attack mode." Joey looked relieved. His monster only has 1600 attack points, not enough to destroy Gearfried. "And I'll play Raise Body Heat on it, increasing it's attack points by 300!" Joey gulped. He couldn't help but notice that the tempertaure in the room seemed to be rising. Now the Two-Headed King Rex had 1900 attack points. "Now, attack!" Gearfried parried one of the monster's two heads, butwas caught by the other one and destroyed, reducing Joey's life points to 2800. 

Joey was sweating now. Gearfried was his only monster that wasn't affected by the Serpent's Venom. _Come on Joey. You're only losing by about a thousand life points. You can still win this_. Hoping he got something useful, he peeled the top card off of his deck. _Graceful Die...that might help me, but only for one turn..._ All of a sudden, a play came to him. It was strange, but it would work. "I'll play Rocket Warrior, in attack mode!" The monster appeared face-up on the field, looking brave in the face of adversary. "And I'll play these two face-down cards. It's your turn, Rex." 

The Dinosaur duelist grinned. "Why bother with your pathetic defenses, Wheeler? You know you can't win. Now, Two-Headed King Rex! Attack his Rocket Warrior." 

"I'll activate Graceful Die..." Joey declared, playing one of his face-down cards. 

"Oh no!" Rex said, worried that the enemy monster would become stronger than his own. 

"On your Skulking Serpent! (3)" Joey finished. Rex looked puzzled, obviously wondering why you would choose to power up the opponent's monster. A panel on the dueling console flipped open, revealing a dice and coin for use with certain cards. Joey took the dice and rolled a five, multiplying the Serpent's attack power to 2500. _Perfect._

Rex was laughing madly. "You're insane Wheeler. Now that you've powered up my monster, I can finish you off this turn." 

"You're missing something Rex," Joey said slyly. "Your Necromatic Spirit card can only be used on monsters with an attack power of less than 1500. That means that it's destroyed, because it can't affect any of your monsters (4.)" Joey smiled triumphantly as the card image shattered. 

"Are you stupid or something," Rex snarled. "That dosen't matter, because you're dead now!" 

"I don't think so either," Joey replied smugly. "I'll activate my other face down card, Reverse Trap! It reverses all bonuses and penalties to attack and defense penalties. Which means that, since Angel's Die once increased your Serpent's attack strength by 2000, it now decreases it by the same amount. And since a monster can't have negative attack strength, it's destroyed for good. And as for your Two-Headed King Rex, that Raise Body Heat card you played on it is reversed too!" Rex gasped as his monster's attack points went down to 1300. It was now somewhat cool in the dueling arena. "Now, Rocket Warrior will finish it off!" With two swipes of it's sword, Rocket Warrior chopped off the King Rex's heads, destroying it and reducing Rex's life points to 3700. 

"I've got to say, that play was pretty impressive," Mai said offhandedly. 

"I knew you could do it big brother!" Serenity cheered. 

Weevil grumbled something about cheerleaders as he shot a scathing glance at Serenity. 

"Y-y-your turn..." Rex stuttered, seemingly shaken by the sudden turn in fortune. 

"All right," Joey said as he drew his next card. "I'll sacrafice my Rocket Warrior to summon the Legendary Fisherman to the field!" The strong man riding a whale appeared on the field, clutching his trademark spear. Joey turned to Mako, the card's original owner. "By the way Mako, thanks for the card." 

"You earned it," Mako said with a smile. "Now go and show this dinosaur who's boss." 

"I will," Joey said with a grin. "Legendary Fisherman, attack his life points directly!" Joey's monster raised his spear and tossed it at Rex's console, bringing a spray of sparks. Rex frowned as he watched his life points go down to 1850. "Another attack like that, and you're done for!" 

Drawing a card, Rex still looked unsure of himself. "I'll place one monster in face-down Defense mode. Go." 

"I'll play Terraform*," Joey said, a big smile on his face. "It allows me to take any field card in my deck and put it into play." He searched his deck for one of the new additions, and picked it out. "And I choose Umi!" Water instantly flooded the arena, lapping up against the dueling consoles and concealing Joey's Legendary Fisherman. 

"Not only does it give my Legendary Fisherman a 20% boost in attack points, raising his attack power up to...um...something or other, but it prevents him from being affected from magic or trap cards, or being attacked," Joey explained as he shuffled his deck and set it back on the field. "There," he said as he looked at his console. "His attack points are 2170. And they're coming right at your face-down monster!" The Legendary Fisherman rose up from the water and tossed his spear at Rex's hidden monster. A Corpse-Eating Dragon card appeared briefly before getting destroyed. 

"My turn," Rex said cautiously. A small grin managed to cross his face. "I'll play a monster in face-down defense mode, and one face-down card. It's your turn now." 

"All right then," Joey smirked. "I'll play Baby Dragon in attack mode. And then I'll attack that face-down monster with my Legendary Fisherman." The small dragon appeared, flying over the ocean, while the Legendary Fisherman struck. 

"I reveal Steel Scorpion!" Rex laughed while his face-down monster was revealed. The Legendary Fisherman easily impaled the scorpion on his spear, but the machine struck out at it's arm, injecting Joey's monster with poison before being destroyed. "Now in three more turns, your Fisherman will be destroyed." 

"Big whoop," Joey said nonchalantly. "In three more turns, you'll be the one that's destroyed! Baby Dragon, attack his life points directly!" The small dragon spat out a jet of flame at Rex's console, reducing the dinosaur duelist's life points down to 650. 

"I don't think so, Wheeler," Rex smirked. "It's my turn now. And I'll use my Trap card, Careless Avarice! It allows me to draw two cards, with the expense of skipping my next two draws." Rex smiled while looking at his hand. "Yes, this is perfect! First I'll play De-Spell to destroy your field card," -a blast of blue energy absorbed all the water on the field, and then exploded- "then I'll play Swords of Revealing Light, to hold your monsters in place for three turns" -a flurry of light swords appeared, freezing Joey's two monsters- "which, coincidentially enough, is exactly the amount of time it takes for your Legendary Fisherman to croak." 

"You know Rex, this is awfully elaborate just to kill one monster," Joey replied. 

"You idiot!" Rex snapped. "I could care less about your pathetic Fisherman. Three turns is all the time it will take to summon my ultimate monster! Now prepare for the end!" 

"Ooh, ultimate monster, I'm spooked," Joey shot back. "Really, if I had a nickel for every time a duelist said that to me, I'd have...um...a lot of nickels!" 

"He's right there," Yugi remarked. 

"Well this is a monster like nothing you've seen before," Rex replied, agitated. "So now I'll play my Two-Mouthed Dark Ruler in defense mode, and end my turn." That monster, at 900/700 was pretty weak, but Joey knew Rex was only using it as a sacrafice for a larger monster. 

Despite his talk, Joey was worried about Rex's monster. He looked at the card he had drew. Not a great solution, but a powerful monster nonetheless. "I'll sacrafice both of my monsters to summon the Insect Queen in attack mode." He turned to Weevil and added with a grin, "Hey bugface! Look familiar?" 

Weevil sniffed. "I don't care if you're playing my insect queen. You don't even know how to use it!" 

"How to use it?" Joey said, stupefied. "How much is there to using it anyways? I mean, it's amonster, you play it, you attack with it, simple as that." 

"You moron!" Weevil said, as if offended that any monster of his could be used for such a simple strategy. "Do even have any other Insect monsters in your deck?" 

"Um...no, I don't think so..." Joey said, trying to think if he had put any Insects in his deck. 

"I figured," Weevil sniffed. "While Insect Queen is a powerful monster, it's only truly powerful when combined with other Insect monsters. In your deck, it's little more than dead weight." 

"Says you," Joey said, choosing to ignore Weevil. "I'll show you how much this monster can do once Rex's Magic card expires. I go, and it's only two more turns now dinosaur boy." 

"My go," Rex said. "I'll play Tomozaurus in defense mode, and one card face down. Your turn." 

Joey growled as he looked at Rex's Swords of Revealing Light. If not for them, he'd have won by now. "I play one card face down," he sighed, "and end my turn." 

"Excellent!" Rex cackled. "I'll play one card face down, and sacrafice both my monsters to summon...CYBERTRON MEGASAUR*!" 

Joey stood back as the two weak dinosaurs disappeared and one much large rone appeared. Half his body seemed to be covered in metal, and his eyes were glowing red. Joey nervously checked the monster's stats. 2400/2200. _He's not all that powerful._ "Your turn, Wheeler!" 

Joey grinned as he drew his next card. Rex's "ultimate monster", like most he'd faced, was a total pushover. "I'll play this monster in face-down defense mode," Joey announced. "And end my turn. Guess what? Now your Swords of Revealing Light expire, allowing me to attack again on my next turn." 

"Oh, I'm so scared," Rex chuckled. "Now I'll activate my Trap card Reinforcements, to increase my monster's attack power by 500!" Joey smiled even though the Cybertron Megasaur's attack power was now 2900. _Luckily for me, I've got an ace up my sleeve. _ "Now, Cybertron Megasaur! Destroy his Insect Queen!" 

"I'm afraid that's not gonna happen, Rex," Joey replied. "I activate Skull Dice. It'll divide your dino's attack strength by the roll of the dice. So, unless I roll a one, your 'ultimate monster' is finished!" 

"Um...nope," Rex smirked. "I'll activate my other face-down card, Solemn Judgement! It allows me to spend half my life points to negate the activation of any card." Joey watched in horror as Rex's life points went down to 325, and the Solemn Judgement card blasted a beam of light at the Skull Dice card, shattering it. "Now, destroy his Insect Queen!" Joey winced as his monster was ripped up, and his life points went down to 2300. 

"All right then..." Joey muttered. "My turn?" 

"Yes!" Rex said, grinning devilishly. "And at the end of each turn, my Cybertron Megasaur's effect activates! Any Trap cards that were used up during the turn--like your Skull Dice, or my Reinforcements--become attached to my monster and increase it's attack power by 500 each!" Joey gasped as two spears grew on the Megasaur's claws, and a dice formed a helmet on it. _Great. Now it has 3400 attack points!_

"All right..." Joey moaned as he drew his card. "I guess all that I can do is play a monster in face-down defense mode." 

"Not even that will save you!" Rex cackled. "I'll play Fairy Meteor Crush on Cybertron Megasaur! That means that he'll tear through even defense monsters and damage yor life points. Attack!" Joey winced as the monster attacked his Ogre Rock, crushing it under his feet. _That monster's defense was 1200, so 3400 minus 1200 is...a lot._ He found out just how much it was as his life points decreased to 100. _Ow! If I don't get something powerful by next turn, I'm finished._

But he did. He felt like kissing the card he drew. _You know, if I ever see Esper Roba again, I've gotta thank him. _ "You ready Rex? Because right now, you're at the end of the line. I'll sacrafice my other face-down monster to summon...Jinzo!" 

Rex chuckled. "2400 attack? That didn't get your insect queen anywhere, it's not gonna get your Jinzo anywhere either." 

"Then maybe you don't know Jinzo's effect, Rex," Joey tuanted. "You see, Jinzo destroys all trap cards in play. Which means that all those additions to your hunk of junk dino? They're gone." Rex looked like he was about to cry as red beams shot out of Jinzo's eyes and destroyed the additions to his monster. 

"B-b-but...our monsters have equal attack strength now," Rex realized. "That means that, on my next turn, I can just kill both of them and attack your life points directly with a weaker monster! You really are stupid, Wheeler." 

"I wouldn't count on that," Joey said. "Not once I play this magic card, Rush Recklessly! It increases my monster's attack strength by 700 points." 

"No!" Rex gasped as Jinzo's attack went up to 3100. 

"Yes!" Joey shot back, now jubilant. "Jinzo! Finish him!" Jinzo shot forward a final red beam, destroying Cybertron Megasaur and reducing Rex to 0. 

"I'm...finished..." Rex muttered. 

"You did it!" Serenity cheered. 

"Yeah, great job, Joey," Tristan added. 

"Thanks guys," Joey said as he stepped down from the console. He felt happy now. He had won the first duel of the World Championships, and he couldn't have done it without the cards he had won from Battle City. _You know, I'm not really that bad at this game at all._

--------------------------------------------------------------- 

Original Cards: 

Skulking Serpent   
Type:Effect Monster   
Water/Sea Serpent/2/500/500   
Effect:Whenever an opponent's monster attacks, reduce it's attack points by 500 permanently. 

Necromatic Spark   
Type:Continuous Trap   
Effect:Choose a monster with less than 1500 attack strength. Whenever a monster is put into the cemetary from play, if the chosen monster is in your cemetary, return it to play in face-up attack or defense mode. 

Terraform   
Type:Normal Magic   
Effect:Search your deck for a Field magic card and put it into play. Shuffle your deck afterwards. 

Cybertron Megasaur   
Type:Effect Monster   
Dark/Dinosaur/7/2400/2200   
Effect:At the end of a turn, you may attach any Trap cards put into a Cemetary to this monster. For each card attached this way, this monster gets 500 attack points. 

All other cards used are actual cards, although because I'm getting them off of Edo's site, they may not have been released stateside yet, or called something different (I use English card names when I know them, though.) 

(1) For this fic, I'm assuming that Yugi and friends live in Japan. I know that I'm mainly using dub stuff, and there was one line in the dub that suggested that they lived in America (which I didn't even hear...), but it just makes more sense from a logistic standpoint if they live in Japan. (Personally, I don't think the dub line was _too_ eronious because of the fact that they don't use real locations anyways.) But anyways, where was I? Oh yeah. This line basically references the fact that in Japan, they study English as a second language (much like Americans learn spanish, or us Canadians learn French.) 

(2) This wouldn't actually work, but it makes sense flavour-wise. I'm doing this like the animé, which makes flavourfull additions to the rules all the time. 

(3) I don't think that this is an actual legal use for Graceful Die, but since it's use is so warped in the animé anyways, I don't really care. 

(4) I'm actually not sure if it would be destroyed or not, so I used what worked for the fic. 


	3. Amazoness Spirits

----------------------------------------------------------------------   
Yu-Gi-Oh!:Duelist of the Stars 

By Amor 

Disclaimer: Until I manage to successfully take over the world, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. 

Chapter 3: Amazoness Spirits 

Authors notes, review responses, footnotes and original cards at the bottom of the chapter.   
------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

"Wait to go, Joey!" Yugi said, congratulating his friend. "That was some really great dueling." 

"Thanks, Yug!" Joey said, responding well to the compliment. "But really, Rex wasn't that tough." 

On the other side of the room, Weevil was berating Rex. "Really, after getting your butt kicked once by Jinzo, you'd think you'd be prepared for it. At least you finally learned how to use Trap cards." 

"Shut up," Rex mumbled. 

"Joey Wheeler has defeated Rex Raptor!" a computerized voice announced. 

"WE KNOW! CAN YOU STOP RUBBING IT IN!" Rex shouted. There was a moment of silence as everyone looked at him. The dinosaur duelist blushed and shrunk into a corner. 

"The next two duelists shall be..." The pictures of the eight of them appeared back on the view screen. The red frames continued flickering around all of them but Joey and Rex's. Eventually they settled on two faces. They were a meek looking face with snowy white hair... "Bakura Ryou!" ...and a pretty face with wild blonde hair. "Will be facing Mai Valentine!" 

The two duelists each walked up to their respective ends of the dueling ring. Bakura seemed even more timid then usual. _Great. I have to face a duelist as good as Mai. She's one of the best I know. How am I supposed to beat her?_

I can help you> a sinister voice whispered in his ear. 

Bakura jumped back, startled. _What was that? Was that... the spirit of the ring? No, I'm not wearing the ring right now. It can't be._

Dismissing it as just his imagination, Bakura stepped into the dueling console. He really hoped he could beat Mai. His mind was racing a mile a minute over everything his duels with the others had taught him. He blinked. Why was he getting so stressed about this duel? Sure, it was the World Championships... but these duels didn't count on his record, and he didn't see himself making the national team. 

Still, when he remembered all the time the others had spent helping him, he couldn't help but feel that if he lost, he would be letting them down. He remembered them helping him change some parts of his deck (Yugi's grandfather even lending Bakura some rare cards), all of them having practice duels with him, Yugi teaching him about strategy and the heart of the cards... 

_I can't lose,_ Bakura decided. Still, he was uncomfortable in this arena. It was too... bright. 

"Hellooo, earth to Bakura," Mai said from across the arena. "Are you going to shuffle your deck, or just forfeit?" 

"Er... right," Bakura said, blushing as he hastily shuffle his deck. He drew his five cards, and looked them over carefully. "So, I go first? Well, then, I guess I'll place one monster in face down defense mode and set one face down card. Your move." 

"Go Bakura!" Yugi cheered from the sidelines. "I know you can do it!" 

"I'm really not sure who to cheer for here, guys," Joey said flatly. 

"I see what you mean," Tea said. She knew that Joey and Mai shared an unspoken bond (at least, Tea was pretty sure neither of them had actually admitted it), but Joey also wanted to help out his friends. "Talk about conflict of interests." 

"Hey, it could be worse," Serenity chimed in. "Yugi could be facing Mai." She knew her brother was much closer to the tri-colour-haired boy than the white-haired one. 

Mai now took her move. "I summon Harpy Lady in attack mode, and set one card face down." The familiar monster appeared on the field, it's stats of 1300/1400 flashing up on the screen. "Now, Harpy Lady! Attack his face down monster!" 

"You destroyed my Giant Germ," Bakura announced. The blob monster appeared, but Harpy Lady easily tore through it's 100 defense. "Now it's special ability activates. It reduces your life points by 500." A dark sphere erupted against Mai's console, causing her LP counter to reel down to 3500. "And it lets me search my deck for two more Giant Germs and play them in Attack Mode." Bakura fanned his deck out and picked out from it two Giant Germ cards, which he laid on the field. 

"Fine," Mai said. "Your move, I guess." 

Bakura drew, and looked at the board position. There was really no point in keeping his monsters in attack mode, seeing as how he was pretty sure there was nothing with below the Germ's attack points of 1000 in Mai's deck. "Shift both Germs into defense mode." The germs seemed to take up a defensive stance as Bakura surveyed his hand. 

_What was one of my deck's weaknesses... oh yeah... mass Magic/Trap removal. If she gets a Harpy's Feather Duster when I have my Destiny Board out, I'm finished._ He remembered being one letter away from winning in a practice match when Joey's Giant Trunade hit the field. _I'd better take care of that now._ "I'll play the Magic card Dark Decimator. It allows me to search your deck for any one card and put it into your hand." 

"All right then," Mai said, puzzled. She placed her deck in the transition compartment of the console, and a compartment popped out of Bakura's console with Mai's deck in it. The platinum haired duelist searched through his opponent's deck carefully, not wanting to miss the card he was looking for. _Wow, Mai has a lot of Amazoness cards in her deck... here it is!_

"I select Harpy's Feather Duster," Bakura announced. He took the Magic card and sent it back to Mai via the transition compartment, then shuffled her deck and sent it back to her the same way. "And now I'll activate my face down card, Card Destruction! We both discard our hands and draw new ones." 

"So that's why you wanted the Feather Duster in my hand," Mai said as she discarded her cards and drew five new ones. Frowning, she pushed a couple buttons on the console, and a holographic image appeared in front of her. "Um, Bakura... you do know you discarded a part of your Destiny Board combo, right?" 

"I did?" Bakura asked, shocked. He looked through his graveyard of seven cards and found, sure enough, Spirit Message-N. _Great. Just great. You took out an option for ruining the combo, while at the same time making the combo impossible. Brilliant._ Bakura banged his head against the dueling console, feeling utterly stupid. 

Someone was laughing... he shot a glance to his friends, but they were silent. Besides, it wasn't any of their laughs anyways... but he had heard it somewhere before. _I'm losing it._

"Don't worry," Tea said from the sidelines, trying to cheer Bakura up. "Everyone makes mistakes." 

Yeah, everyone who loses,> Bakura thought to himself. It was right in front of your face and you didn't notice it!> Wait a minute... that wasn't his own voice. It was far more sinister... Gasping, he felt at his neck. There was something around it... the Millennium Ring! He was wearing it, and the spirit of the ring was communicating with him! 

_Why hadn't I noticed it there,_ Bakura thought feverishly. _I should have felt it... or something..._ _I should take it off right now. No, then I'd look stupid, leaving it on... I'll do it after this duel. I'll take it off and throw it far away. Do you hear that?_

The spirit only seemed to laugh more. 

"Um... Bakura?" Yugi asked, sounding genuinely worried. "Are you okay?" 

"I'm fine," Bakura said, putting on a false smile. "I guess I'll end my turn." 

"About time," Mai muttered. "All right then... I hate to lose life points, but I hate to know what you could do with those Germs more. So I'll play Amazoness Fighter in attack mode." A hologram of the bare-handed Amazon warrior appeared on Mai's side of the field, glaring defiantly at Bakura and his Germs. "And then I'll take care of your two monsters. Harpy Lady, Amazoness Warrior! Attack!" 

The harpy and Amazoness circled the two biological monsters before moving in to attack. The Harpy lady grabbed the germ on the left hand side with it's talons while the warrior drove the right germ towards it with a flurry of kicks and punches. The Harpy Lady tossed one germ at the other, and they both exploded. A flurry of black orbs hit Mai, driving her life points down to 2500. "I'll set one card and end my turn." 

_Well... at least I'm ahead,_ Bakura thought, trying to be hopeful. However, he rejoiced inside when he saw his next card. "I summon Dark Necrofear in attack mode!" he announced. "And I have more than enough Fiend type monsters in my graveyard to do so." He removed two Giant Germs and a Headless Knight card he had discarded due to Card Destruction from his graveyard. In return, a haunting female form appeared on the field. 

"Now, Dark Necrofear!" Bakura instructed his monster. "Attack the Amazoness Warrior!" The monster raised it's arm and unleashed a ray of dark energy. The warrior braced itself but was annihilated by the attack. 

"All right then," Mai said, sighing as she moved the Amazoness card to her graveyard. "The Amazoness Warrior's effect is that I don't take any life point damage if she's destroyed in battle. My move?" 

"Yes," Bakura said, a bit down because he had been expecting Mai's life points to be down to 1600 by now. 

"All right then," Mai said as she drew a card. "First thing I'll do is play Harpy's Brother in attack mode!" A male harpy materialized on the field, looking every bit as ferocious as his sister. Bakura checked his stats. 1800/600 good, but still not enough to defeat Dark Necrofear. 

"Is that all?" Bakura smirked. 

"You wish," Mai said, grinning. "I'll reveal one of my face down cards, Cyber Bondage! Now, my Harpy Lady becomes the Cyber Harpy!" The Harpy Lady now wore metal armour, increasing it's attack points by 500. "And I'll play this Magic card, Instant Armoury*! It lets me search my deck for any Equip card and play it." Mai fanned out her deck and picked out one card, and laid it on the field. 

"I'll play the Black Pendant. It increases my monster's attack by 700." A dark jewel appeared on the Cyber Harpy's forehead, and it's power shot up to 2500. "Now, Cyber Harpy! Dark Beam Attack!" A beam of dark energy shot from the jewel, tearing through Dark Necrofear. Bakura winced as his life points dropped down to 3700. _That was my strongest monster._

Bakura would have quit right then and there, if not for Dark Necrofear's effect. "But now that you've destroyed it, it allows me to play the Field card Dark Sanctuary!" As Bakura played the Magic card from his deck, an inky red area filled the room. Dozens of giant eyes opened in the area, staring at the duel intently. 

"Oh yeah... this card..." Joey said, grimacing. 

Bakura grinned darkly as he drew his next card. "It's a whole new game now, Mai." 

* * * 

Unbeknownst to any of the duelists, something was happening just outside of the door of the arena. Two men and a woman met, and traded suspicious glances. All three wore black robes. 

"I don't see any cameras around," the woman said. 

"That's assuming they're big enough to be visible," a tall, thin man said. 

"They are. I saw one in the cafeteria this morning," the other man said. His features seemed to be almost perfectly average. Fair skin, brown hair and eyes, not too short or tall, not too skinny or fat... if you stopped to think about it, he would have been creepy. But most people's eyes just passed right over him. 

"Then nobody can see us?" the tall man asked warily. 

"Nobody can see us," the perfectly average man said. 

"All right," the woman said. "Traveler, do your stuff." 

The man known as Traveler raised his right arm, the black bracelet on his wrist gleaming in the artificial light. The symbol on it-- three squares encased within each other-- glowed purple ass the bracelet detached itself from Traveler's wrist and floated out three feet, all on it's own violation. 

And then the bracelet formed an arch shape, and began to grow. Soon enough, it was no longer a bracelet, but a door frame, holding a solid black door. The bracelet's symbol gleamed on the door. "This is your part, Ria." 

The woman known as Ria grasped the door's large handle tightly. In her mind, she formed the image of her destination. Swirling sands, blistering heat... with a tug, the door opened into this place. 

The trio stepped into the door frame, shutting it behind them. In reverse of what it had just done, the door turned back into a bracelet, attaching itself to the man known as Traveler's wrist once more. 

The three looked around, blocking out the blinding sun with their hands. They dropped their cloaks, revealing outfits more suited to the heat. The average man's eyes focused firmly on the closest structure of any kind: an ancient pyramid. 

A young Egyptian walked forward to greet the three. "Welcome back to Earth. I trust that everything has gone according to plan." 

"Of course," the average man replied. "And the items are vulnerable?" 

"Yes," the Egyptian said with a grin. 

"Excellent," the woman known as Ria replied. The three began to approach the pyramid. 

The Egyptian grabbed the man known as Traveler by the shoulder. "You will fulfill your end of the bargain," he breathed with a sudden malice. 

"Of course we will, Marik," the average man said in a soothing tone. "Don't you trust us?" 

* * * 

Bakura is a very hard kid to read, Mai thought as she glanced across the duel field. When she had met him during Duelist Kingdom, he seemed quiet and reserved, though they hadn't really gotten to talk much. But during the battle with Yugi in the Battle City finals, he had been malicious and just plain creepy. And now, he was acting like an amateur duelist who was too hard on himself. Which one is the real Bakura? 

She had forgotten about Dark Necrofear's ability. She had planned to attack with Harpy's Brother after his monster had been eliminated, but now her monster was probably possessed. _Great._ "I'll end my turn, I guess." 

"Excellent," Bakura said giddily at his next draw. "I'll place two cards face down. Then I'll summon Sangan in defense mode. I have to sacrifice him to keep my Dark Sanctuary in play." No sooner had the small furry monster appeared, than it had vanished. "And when it goes to the graveyard, it lets me search my deck for another monster to replace it." Bakura did so, and reshuffled his deck. "Your turn, Mai."__

_I think he's slipping back into his creepy persona,_ Mai thought, looking at the somewhat sinister grin on Bakura's face. She knew that the two cards he had laid down were probably traps, but she didn't want to waste a turn. Besides, she had made that assumption before and lost because of it. "I'll play Amazoness' Pet Tiger in attack mode." The monster appeared, it's attack points displaying as 1500. "Now, I'll attack with it!" 

The tiger charged forward, but instead of attacking, a haunting spirit shot out it's back instead. "You possessed my tiger?" 

"Only because I knew you'd attack with it first, thinking I wouldn't," Bakura said with a grin. "Now you lose life points equal to half it's attack, and I gain that much." Bakura's life points went up to 4450, while Mai's went down to 1750. _Ouch. He's slaughtering me here!_

"Well if you're not possessing my Cyber Harpy..." Mai said. "Then I'll attack with her!" 

"Then I'll activate my Trap card!" Bakura responded. "You may find it familiar. Mirror Wall!" Mai gasped. She had played that card in Duelist Kingdom, but took it out of her deck because of some errata that was issued in the tournament rules. _I wonder if he knows about that..._ Still, reducing her harpy's attack points by half was no mean feat. She was now a mere 1250/1900. 

"And now I'll activate another Trap," Bakura said, looking positively ecstatic. "Destiny Board!" The Ouija board appeared over the playing field, a spirit holding the first letter: 'F'. Mai wondered what Bakura was doing. One of his letters was still in the graveyard. 

"I guess I'll end my turn," Mai responded. 

"Now my Destiny Board finds another letter," Bakura announced. Sure enough, the marker on the board found the letter 'I', and a spirit displaying this quickly appeared. 

"Whatever," Mai said, shrugging. "But you do know that you have to pay 2000 life points during your Standby phase or Mirror Wall is destroyed, right?" 

"Of course," Bakura responded, as his life points were reduced to 2450. "But at the believe me, even with that restriction I have enough time to win this game." Mai was inclined to believe him. With the combination of Dark Sanctuary and Mirror Wall, his defenses were looking pretty impenetrable. 

"And I'll play the Magic card Relearn. It lets me put a Magic card from my graveyard into my hand. So I'll return Spirit Message-N to my hand. And I'll play Earthbound Spirit, and sacrifice him to my Dark Sanctuary." Mai grimaced as the spirit appeared and disappeared, and Bakura moved a card from his graveyard to his hand. "Your turn... see if you can do anything, Mai." 

It turned out she couldn't. But she realized that there was a flaw in Bakura's plan: he needed a turn of protection from Mirror Wall that he didn't have enough life points to pay for. She wasn't sure whether this was an actual shortcoming in his plan, or if he had a strategy to prevent it. "I'll set one card, and end my turn. Your move." 

"Excellent," Bakura said, his dark grin growing wider. _What's wrong with this kid?_ "Now my Destiny Board gets another letter, and I'll pay 2000 life points to Mirror Wall,." Now Bakura's life points were a mere 450, and the spirits spelt out the message "FIN." "Play Headless Knight. Sacrifice him to Dark Sanctuary. Set one face down card. Take your second last turn, Mai." 

Mai grimaced as she drew her next card. All she was drawing were ways to power up her monster, or protect from enemy attacks. Neither of them were of any use at this moment. "I'll pass." 

"What's wrong," Bakura taunted. "Can't do anything. Then I guess my Destiny Board gets it's penultimate letter!" A spirit appeared holding the letter 'A.' "At the start of my turn, I'll activate the Trap card Solomon's Lawbook. It lets me skip my Standby Phase this turn, so I don't have to pay any amount of life for my Mirror Wall. And now I'll play The Portrait's Secret, and sacrifice it to my Dark Sanctuary." _Of course,_ Mai thought. _Solomon's Lawbook. I'm screwed._ The portrait monster appeared on the field and summarily vanished. "Take your last turn." 

Mai wondered how she could get out of this one. Even if she managed to get rid of Mirror Wall, she still had the spirit of Dark Sanctuary to deal with. And with only one turn to go, she needed an answer. _What was it Yugi and Joey always talked about... the heart of the cards... well whatever it is, I need it now._

She looked at the card she had drawn. Amazoness Chain Wielder. _How will this... oh, yeah! _"You've played well," Mai said, trying to be a good sport. "But it ends here. I'll play Amazoness Chain Wielder in attack mode!" 

"So?" Bakura sneered. 

"Now I'll activate my Trap card," Mai announced. "Expert Summoner*! It lets me summon an extra monster this turn. And I'll sacrifice my Amazoness Pet Tiger and Amazoness Chain Wielder to summon Harpy's Pet Dragon in attack mode!" The hologram of a dragon roared as it appeared on the field. Thanks to the two Harpies[1] in play, it's attack power was 2600. 

"Another monster," Bakura said. "But again, how will that stop my Destiny Board?" 

"You see, my Amazoness Chain Wielder has a special ability," Mai explained. "And that ability is that when she's put into the cemetery from play, I can take any card I want from your deck." 

"But which-" Bakura's confusion melted into horror. "Spirit Message-L!" 

"That's right," Mai said as she searched through Bakura's deck (brought to her by the transition compartment.) She took the Trap card and put it into your hand. "Which means that now I'll end my turn, but since that card isn't in your deck or hand, the Destiny Board won't get to complete it's message." 

Any of the dark, cocky Bakura that had been there only a few moments ago was gone. The current Bakura looked shattered, shell-shocked by how close he had come to victory. _There are puppies that would kill to have that look,_ Mai couldn't help but think. 

"I can't pay any more life points to Mirror Wall, so it's destroyed," Bakura admitted mournfully. He seemed to be on the verge of tears. Mai felt sort of bad about what she had done, but inside she knew that Bakura wouldn't be happy if she hadn't given it her all. "And I'll concede." 

"There was still some game left," Mai said comfortingly as she stepped down from the dueling console. "You still had your Dark Sanctuary out." 

"No, I didn't have any more weak monsters in my hand to sacrifice to it," Bakura admitted. He looked up, and Mai saw something in his eyes. She thought it was a new determination, but really it was just darkness. "I'll be fine." 

To be continued.... 

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Author's Notes: 

Who will be the next to duel? Who are the mysterious trio, and what deal have they struck with Marik? And what will Bakura's dark side do now? Find out in the next chapter of Yu-Gi-Oh:Duelist of the Stars! Sorry, I just always wanted to do one of those... :p 

Just in case you're wondering, I wrote this fic with only a cursory glance over manga spoilers about the end of Battle City. Therefore, some stuff may be wrong, like Ishizu still having the Millennium Necklace. I will update this once Battle City has finished here (or write an alternate ending to Battle City), but not before then. 

Sorry if this chapter is a bit late in coming, but school has been hell lately, and my inspiration dried up there for a while. The next chapter will probably be a while, as I'm going to go back to working on my Digimon fic. 

Review Responses (should have done this earlier, but was too lazy): 

Sasami and Tsunami- Thanks! I tried to but a bit more description into this chapter, so if you see it I hope you like it. 

Explosivo- Yeah, I've noticed a lot more dueling fics lately (although less so around Mediaminer than FF.net) Thanks. 

Peter Kim-It was to my understanding that Odion was punished for using a counterfeit god card. Mai couldn't use Ra, however, but she didn't get hit by lightning. Yami has reason to believe that Joey could be able to use a God card. More on this in future chapters 

[1]In the actual game, Harpy's Brother wouldn't power up Harpy's Pet Dragon (mostly because he wasn't a Harpy in the Japanese game), but it's flavourful for him to do so. 

Original Cards: 

Instant Armoury   
Normal Magic   
Search your deck for an Equip Magic card and equip it onto a monster in play. 

Expert Summoner   
Normal Trap   
You may Normal Summon or Set an extra monster this turn. 


End file.
